The Cat o' Nine Tails

1971. Italy/France/West Germany. Written and directed by Dario Argento. With Karl Malden, Aldo Reggiani, Catherine Spaak. Seeing is not believing in Argento's second feature, a tantalizing mind game whose purposefully convoluted plot, involving genetic research, espionage, and myriad false leads, gives the filmmaker an ideal opportunity to explore his obsession with the unreliability of the senses. Argento contributes admirably to the mystery/suspense tradition of Alfred Hitchcock, Michelangelo Antonioni, and Michael Powell, using close-ups, still photographs, point-of-view tracking shots, and disorienting architectural settings to obscure and confound reality. Preserved by the Cineteca Nazionale, Rome. In Italian; English subtitles. 112 min.

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